Catherine Williams
From:
North Carolina
N.C. District: No. 2
Worker: T. Pat Matthews
No. Words: 723
Subject: CATHARINE WILLIAMS
Person Interviewed: Catherine Williams
Editor: Daisy Bailey Waitt
CATHARINE WILLIAMS
2214 Barker Street
"My name is Catharine Williams. I was born December twenty fifth, 1851.
I remember my mother, but I do not know anything about my father. My
mother's name was Adeline Williams. Mother baked ash cakes, but my
children would not eat 'em. She died fifty years ago. I had four
children when she died, but I had three boys and two girls. I was born
in Virginia but I cannot tell what part. I was four years old when my
mother brought me to North Carolina. Our old master, Dabney Cosby,[10]
moved from Virginia to North Carolina then. We came straight into
Raleigh, North Carolina and have been living in Raleigh ever since.
"We were Williams when owned by Cosby and we were never sold again, but
remained in the same family till we were set free after the surrender.
We had good food, fair clothing and comfortable sleeping places. I know
what a pallet is. All slep' on 'em a lot in slavery days, especially
when it was hot weather. I makes 'em now sometimes.
"My missus wus named Fannie. I do not know how many slaves they owned,
but Marster did not have a plantation, he lived in town. He was a brick
mason, and he made brick. He had two brick kilns.
"Our missus and marster were kind to us but they did not teach us to
read and write. I learned to read and write since the surrender. I went
to church and Sunday school. There were no Negro preachers, but we
attended the white folks's church. We did not have any prayer meetings
because our homes were in the white folks's yard.
"I was never whupped, and mother and myself were well treated, so I
have no complaint to make against our white folks.
"The first work I done was nursing the children in the home, next I
waited on the table, then general house [HW: work].
"At the last days of the war Wheeler's Calvary camped around my house
at night. They tole us the Yankees would be in Raleigh the next morning
and shore 'nough they came in next morning. If the citizens had not
gone out and surrendered Raleigh to the Yankees they would have torn
Raleigh to pieces. We were living on the corner of Hargett and Dawson
Streets. The Yankees done us no harm. They done all right in Raleigh.
They did not take nothing around home. They put out guards around the
homes by the time they got in. We were not afraid of 'em, none of us
children, neither white nor colored; they played such purty music and
was dressed so fine. We run after the band to hear 'em play.
"I heard talk of the patterollers, but never saw any. I knew very
little about the jail in Raleigh for slaves. I never saw any slaves
sold or any in chains. I never knew of any slaves running away to the
North. We children both white and colored enjoyed the Christmas
holidays together. We played running and jumping and hide and seek.
"We had doctors when we got sick. Dr. Johnson was one of them. After
the war we stayed on with Marster and Missus until they died. I have
been on Oberlin Road about twenty-five years.
"No Sir, what you talkin' 'bout? No, there were no Negro schools in
Raleigh at the time of the surrender, but I have had a good time all my
life as far as bein' treated right is concerned.
"I have never married. I will have to find that man yet, and at this
age I don't expect to find him. Ha! ha! never found that man yet. I am
staying with my niece.
"I know nothing about Abraham Lincoln. He helped us to be free. I knew
nothing about Jefferson Davis, Booker T. Washington or Roosevelt. I
know very little about Jim Young, only he was a polititian."
LE
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 10: Dabney Cosby, a practical architect and contractor, came
to Raleigh from Halifax County, Virginia, and did a good deal of
building in the city between 1850 and 1860. The original Yarborough
House (1852) was built by him. The Heart house, corner Hargett and
Dawson Streets, Cosby's home, and another stucco house, corner Hargett
and Harrington Streets are still standing in the locality mentioned in
the story.]
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Rev Handy Williams
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Tom Wilcox
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